Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Colorado congressman boasts about "killing" Rocky Mountain News

Boulder, Colorado is the most liberal city in the Mountain Time Zone. And it's the people of that university city and the surrounding area who elected Jared Polis, an internet entrepreneur, to Congress last year.

On Friday, after a 150 year run, the Rocky Mountain News published its last edition. Considered politically moderate, its shut-down leaves Denver with one newspaper, the liberal Denver Post.

But it's the Post that reports that Polis is glad the News is gone.

"I have to say, that when we say, 'Who killed the Rocky Mountain News,' we're all part of it, for better or worse, and I argue it's mostly for the better," Polis said at the Netroots Nation in Your Neighborhood event in Westminster, according to a recording posted online. The group supports progressive politics.

"The media is dead, and long live the new media, which is all of us," said Polis, a Boulder Democrat.

Polis' comments caused a firestorm, which led him to clarify his comments yesterday. Remember, it's the Democrats who purpotedly stick up for the "little guy," quite a few of whom lost their jobs last week.

"It's not just 200 jobs that have been lost; it's also the silencing of a voice," he said. "The rise of new media and citizen journalism has hastened the demise of many newspapers, and we, unfortunately, all share in the blame."

What a jerk.

Related post:

Rocky Mountain low

Technorati tags:

1 comment:

El Rider said...

The Rocky Mountain News holds a 50% stake in that goof's hometown paper, the ultra-liberal Boulder Daily Camera. How will he feel when they close their doors and the only paper in town is the CU Independent? On the other hand, maybe his aim is for the only news people to be college students.